by Elizabeth | May 16, 2011 | Learning Story
Learning God's Story of Grace is coming May 27
What do you know?
5-8 He planted a witness in Jacob,
set his Word firmly in Israel,
Then commanded our parents
to teach it to their children
So the next generation would know,
and all the generations to come—
Know the truth and tell the stories
so their children can trust in God,
Never forget the works of God
but keep his commands to the letter. Psalm 78:5-8, The Message Translation
Learning leads to living — I know that because “the Bible tells me so”:
We need to learn God’s story of grace in order to live it. Learning doesn’t mean simply studying hard or pounding information into our minds. Learning means knowing. When the Bible speaks of knowing, it refers to a deep connection involving heart and mind. To know God is to be intimately connected with him. As we consider both the big story God has written in Scripture and the particular stories he is writing in our lives, we come to know God more deeply and love him more fully.” Learning God’s Story of Grace
How about you? What struggles do you have with knowing something and living it? How do you think the gospel addresses that struggle for Christians?
Learning God’s Story of Grace, available May 27, will take you and your community into a deeper conversation about questions like these.
by Elizabeth | May 13, 2011 | Learning Story
This is what a woman wants...
Continuing some thoughts on “A Woman’s Story,” I’m bringing Rose-Marie Miller, author of From Fear to Freedom, and great teller of the good news of “Sonship” with her husband Jack Miller. Early in her book, she talks about the hope and the struggle offered by the women’s liberation movement of the 70’s:
Liv Ullman, quoted by Rose-Marie:
“But after choice there was a new set of rules, not necessarily tied to women’s liberation, because after liberation from authority followed pressure: all the new ideas crashing in on women who were not sure how to direct their new found independence. The liberated woman followed in the stream of others, who, equally liberated, said what everybody else was saying, read what everybody else was reading, conformed to that which everybody else conformed to.” (Liv Ullman, Choices)
Rose-Marie:
“Liv Ullman describes the frustrating consequences [of women’s liberation]. You become free from what and for what? For pressure? For a new set of rules laid down by dominating women who say they are liberated from dominating men? No, modern woman started out wanting to be free from pressure, and that freedom is what she must have. But it cannot come from inventing herself all over again. No one of us has that power. We are not God, and only God can make or remake that person.
“My sense is that most women today often unconsciously long for the kind of life that God wishes to give them.” [my emphasis] Rose-Marie Miller, From Fear to Freedom
by Elizabeth | May 11, 2011 | Learning Story
“As I sit in prison for killing my husband, I sometimes reflect on all the things that went wrong during our thirteen-year marriage. I suffered emotional, verbal, and physical abuse, and I protected that secret for a long time. We relied more on ourselves to fix things in the marriage, and that was a sure recipe for disaster.
My church was a tremendous support, but I did not allow people there to see the depths of my pain. I had loving sisters and great friends who would have given their full support if only I had shared what was going on within my marriage.
I’m convinced if I had allowed others into my world and embraced help, I wouldn’t be incarcerated today. I encourage anyone facing any type of abuse to share your personal turmoil with another person. Don’t remain silent; seek help…
Does the story end there? No.Whatever transgressions occur in your life, your choice to move beyond the fall is yours. My motto is: My transgression doesn’t define the person I am or the person I will grow to be in Christ.”
Tara Lyle, “Wife without Wings,” in Wisdom Found: Stories of Women Transfigured by Faith, Ed. Lindsay Hardin Freeman
My mom gave me this really wonderful book for Mother’s Day. As I pray and prepare for a seminar on bringing God’s story of grace for women to the world’s women, I am intrigued by the stories in this book. I pray you read this story and you think about who in your world might be suffering abuse — what woman do you know who might be on the verge of murdering her husband because of the abuse she is suffering? What does bringing the message of good news to this woman look like? What connection do you have with her?
It’s really not that simple, if you read Tara’s words. People would have helped her, but she kept to herself, and that is the story of many/most abused women. I think the average number of times a woman in a domestic abuse situation must leave before the leaving is final is 7. What can you do to make the gospel real to her?
[No, this paragraph is not the answer — as a good coach, I’m encouraging you to take that as a matter for prayer before the Creator and Redeemer who knows and loves this woman. I would love to hear your thoughts, though:)].
by Elizabeth | May 9, 2011 | Learning Story
God's story of grace consumes all others.
“So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.”
Stress. Poverty. Worry. Be perfect. Be powerful. Be sexy.
With so many competing stories telling us who we are, women struggle to discover our true identity. If we are going to be Christ to the World, we must pray and seek to understand A Woman’s Story, both the one many are living, and the ONE that frees us to live as we were created and redeemed to be.
I’ll be doing A Woman’s Story “seminar” (which will really be an interactive experience, not just me disseminating information:) at the PCA General Assembly on June 9 at 8 a.m. If you are attending PCA-GA, please come. If you’re not — this is NOT a denominational thing — it’s a CHRIST thing! How will we bear Christ to the women in our world who so desperately need to know the hope of the gospel. Contact me if you want to know more!
by Elizabeth | May 7, 2011 | Learning Story
A beautiful rendition of Be Still My Soul to close out this week of dwelling on soul-stillness:
by Elizabeth | May 5, 2011 | Learning Story
Funny how children do not need to be reminded to rest!
“If we believe, though, we’ll enter that state of resting. But not if we don’t have faith.” Hebrews 4:1-11
Hebrews calls us to come to Jesus, our only Lord and Savior. It reminds us of what happened to the people who didn’t “believe,” who were disobedient and went their own way, despite the goodness of God’s promise (see Psalm 78 for a great summary of their rebellion in the face of his provision.)
In Hebrews 4, the author beckons us to rest, urges us not to refuse it. It’s easy for me to read the passage and say, “I wouldn’t be like those moronic Israelites!” Indeed. And yet…I need to examine my life of rest. It is true, the day of eternal rest awaits. For now, the challenges of a fallen world will interfere with rest. Even so, God invites us to enter His rest now as we anticipate the promise of new heavens new earth rest.
Eugene Peterson writes this about rest…
“The concept of rest is central to living the Christian life. Two things happen when we rest. First, we understand where we’ve come from. And second, we understand where we’re going. When we rest, we look back and see how God has providentially led us along the way, how he has protected and provided for us.
If, however, we’re immersed in the present, preoccupied with the pressing issues of everyday life, we’ll never see his providential care for us. If we don’t enter the rest that’s both symbolized and experienced in our Sunday worship, our lives will become cluttered, and that will keep us confused.
We often labor under the illusion that everything depends on us or on those around us. But it doesn’t. Everything depends on God. And this is the great lesson that rest has to teach us.” Eugene Peterson, Conversations.
Father, forgive my wandering, worrying heart. Forgive me for my faith in self-sufficiency that causes me to forget YOUR efficiency. Cause me to rest, Lord, force me to surrender my heart to you again, that I may fully enter your rest, not just in eternity, but even today. In the name of the one who bought this rest for us, our Lord Jesus Christ, I humbly and hopefully ask this blessing.
